Walking in the Light

Grab your Bible, notebook and pen, and a good cup of coffee and let's continue on in our study of 1 John 1.

“This is the message which we have heard from Him (Jesus) and declare to you,

that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.

If we say that we have fellowship with Him,

and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another,

and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
1 John 1:5-7, NKJV

The message that John and the other disciples of Christ preached came straight from their hearts, because Christ had spoken it directly to their hearts. It wasn’t something that they sat around the campfire and thought up own their own. The message they unashamedly proclaimed came from God (Galatians 1:12). What exactly is the message John was preaching?

~Read John 8:12.
Who did Jesus say He was?
What happens if we follow Him?

As we saw from our visit to the Garden of Eden, because of man’s disobedience to God, sin had entered the world and caused one’s fellowship with God to be broken. The only way for our fellowship with God to be restored was for Jesus Christ, the Light, to come to earth and show us our sin. This is the message John was preaching. It is the Gospel message. It is the message that God so desperately wants all of us to hear and believe in so that we can walk with Him and experience fullness of joy.

In Scripture, “light” and “darkness” are very common symbols. Intellectually, light refers to Biblical truth and knowledge, while darkness refers to dishonesty and foolishness. Morally, light refers to holiness and purity while darkness refers to sin or wrongdoing. Light represents Christ in His truth, wisdom, holiness, and perfection. Darkness represents Satan, and all of his demonic forces, in his lies, schemes, rebellion, evilness, and stupidity.

What is light? What does it do?

Let’s read the following Scriptures and note what each has to say about light.

* “For You will light my lamp; the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.”

Psalm 18:28, NKJV
In this verse, darkness comes from the Hebrew word choshek, which means misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness. Because of our sinful nature, we live in misery. Nothing we do apart from God will matter in the end. We are full of evil because we are ignorant to the Truth. The result of this life would be death, eternal separation from God. God, because He is the source of all Light and loves us so much, sent His Son to earth to reveal to us the darkness that consumes us.

* “The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.” Psalm 19:8, NKJV
God’s Word is holy, it is pure, it is right. Reading and studying His Word, brings to light our sin. His Word shows us faults that we might never recognize on our own.

* “But the light will show what these things are really like. Light shows up everything…” Ephesians 5:13-14a, CEV
Here again, light shows everything. Nothing can be hidden when the lights are turned on.

* “I (Jesus) have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me (Jesus) should not abide in darkness.” John 12:46, NKJV
Jesus is the Light of the world. He was and is the only One who can rescue us from a heart that is darkened by sin. This was His very purpose for coming to earth. To follow Him, means that we will no longer live in bondage to sin, but we can live a life of freedom.

Spend some time right now jotting down your thoughts on each of these verses. Maybe one of them stood out to you for a particular reason; begin committing it to memory.

See you tomorrow as we continue on with what light is and what it does.